NomNomNow: Dogs Are People Too, You Know

This post is a part of a series where I breakdown the marketing journey from new brands that I encounter. NomNomWow did not endorse or consent to this post.

1st touchpoint: Cold Acquisition

Device: Facebook Desktop, Macbook Air

The first touchpoint with NomNomWow happened via a Facebook Ad. I had never heard of this brand before, which means that I was a part of a “cold audience” or prospecting campaign. This is how brands and companies acquire new users in their top of funnel.

I can imagine there were a few reasons why I was targeted with this. Last night I was researching new companies on AngelList when I saw a new fresh dog food company: Pet Plate. I checked out their website and social media profiles. Cool and cute!

Then I remembered a company that I had applied for years ago that had a really similar model: The Farmer’s Dog. Naturally I went to their website and social profiles too.

And bam, 18 hours later: I’m hit with the NomNom ad.

Ad Breakdown

Let’s break down that first ad.

Text

When I first saw the ad, I didn’t read the text. Frankly, I probably wouldn’t have if I wasn’t a marketer. I would try something out much shorter here, especially on Facebook, where the text comes above the video content. Additionally, the language is rather passive.

Headline

I hope they are split testing this with emojis and without. And maybe even the type of emojis. Visually, it looks kind of odd that the emojis are pushed down to the bottom.

CTA – Call to Action

“Shop Now” could be a a little aggressive on the first touch point. I would split test a “Learn More” button and see what gets a better CTR.

What I like about the NomNomWow video ad:

The video was high quality and professional. Immediately I respected them as a brand.

Good call on that cute doggo that shows up within 5 seconds of the video.

30 seconds is the perfect amount of time for the first video touchpoint. After all, I’m not at the pet store. I’m on Facebook where I’m not really in the consumer mindset.

These things gave me pause:

This video NEEDS subtitles. The first time I watched it I didn’t realize it had a voiceover.Because of this I thought NomNom might be a dry food brand because of the dry food b-roll in the video. WHOOPS.

Split text CTA with “Learn More” for first touch.

The text didn’t do much for me: split test to find something better. Maybe emojis would be better here.

Split test headline too.

When I looked at the comments section, the first thing I saw was that this product is $110 a month. Yikes. That could definitely be turning some people off. Your response was thoughtful, however, I don’t think many people would have gone looking for your responses. (It took me a number of clicks to even find your response.)

At the end of the first touchpoint:

I watched the video all the way through twice.

I did not “like” the ad.

I did not follow the brand on any social media.

However, I did save the video.

2nd touchpoint: Active Research

Device: Desktop, Macbook Air

After the first touchpoint, I logged out of Facebook and continued to work on separate client work. Then I decided to search out the NomNom on Google.

NomNom… Pets? Not quite, but close. Pretty smart of them to have some kind of Google Ads on their branded keyword. Hopefully, they are looking into their search terms regularly to see what other combinations people are using to search for them.

*I DID NOT CLICK ON THE AD*

I clicked on the homepage link right below the ad.

First time on the website

The first thing I notice: the cute doggo image. I dig it.

My eye then drifted to the banner at the top. Free shipping is neat, but a free bag of treats is a little abstract to me. I hope they are split testing that value prop.

Then I drift to the sexy 20% off button. However, I don’t click on it. I’m still not convinced: 20% off of $110 is still a chunk of change.

So I scroll down.

I doubt these reviews are fake… but they kind of seem like they are. Why? The images are too “stock-photo-y”. I know it would require legwork, but real doggos with their humans would be nice here.

I continue to scroll and approach our first CTA. And frankly: I’m not ready for it, nor do I care for it. I’m not excited to click on this one because I still don’t really understand what NomNom’s about or why their recipes are that important.

I skip past the next two CTAs which are in the same section as the first one. “Our expertise” and “Our approach”…again, just not ready for it.

The next section was much more compelling to me: clearly I’m a fan of bullet points. The section right after this was the heartfelt founding story, which I honestly read all the way through and enjoyed.

After the founding story we got another neat numbers graphic that, for the first time, really broke down the reasons why you should feed your dog fresh food. It was cool to also see the week by week progression. It gives the consumer a tangible reason to stay on with a fresh food company.

The care-grade guarantee made me pause. The double-use of the word diet made me think that this was a product specially formulated to aide in weight loss.

Next big surprise on this page: this stuff is also for cats! Totally missed that at the top of the page. Neato. Could have been a cool thing to add in the video…

After this I decide to hunt for the “How it Works” page. And I do have to hunt for it. It’s hidden in the boring section I didn’t like under “Our approach”. Hope. They. Are. Split. Testing. These. CTAs.

Next page: How It Works

First thing, we have the care-grade definition. I don’t really care about the definition, I just want to see how this stuff will benefit my dog.

Following this, there are the standard 1-5 bullets about why they do what they do. A little boring. Cute corgi, though. At least they got that dog start-up memo. 🙂

And this time I do click the “Let’s get started” button.

And immediately I think: AH! So there’s the lead generation. And naturally I fill it out with my dream dog in mind.

And I click “Create meal plan for MishMish”. Love it!

Here, I’m kind of curious about the benefits between each recipe. Maybe one is better for weight loss? Or one’s best for gas? This would be a good conversion factor if we are trying to attract health-minded dog or cat owners.

At this point I am not ready to convert. I go to exit and there is no exit intent pop-up. (I guess they already got my email, but it would be a good place to double remind me about that 20% off promo).

And I click out.

Right after this I hop around on Facebook Desktop: nothing. However, I did get targeted with a ton of meal prep startups. (No thanks, dudes.)

After one hour, still not follow up email.

3rd touchpoint: The first email

Device: Mail App, iPhone X

I worked on some more stuff for about two hours and frankly forgot about the brand. Then I checked my email.

However, I didn’t open it.

4th Touchpoint: Instagram Stories

Device: Instagram Stories, iPhone X

Under an hour later I went in for some Instagram Stories-stalking to numb my brain when…

Frankly, I probably would have skipped right over it except that I recognized the logo. It didn’t immediately register that this was a dog brand. (Also, I watch on silent a lot of times.) But, I continued to watch.

Oooof. Should of had that cute doggo in the first part of the video!

5th Touchpoint: Facebook Mobile

Device: Facebook Mobile, iPhone X

About an hour after the Instagram Stories video, I logged onto Facebook Mobile and got served a GIF-like video. Here, again, I think the text is still too long. Another mention of care-grade…maybe this is a thing I can get behind? MAYBE… still don’t really understand it though.

6th Touchpoint: Opening up the email

Device: Mail App, iPhone X

Oh yeah, I thought to myself, I forgot to open up that NomNom email. Let’s crack it open on mobile:

The body text to me here is still a bit clunky. Not easy to skim at all. I do however like the plain text and color highlights combo. Just wish there was more white space for me to easily digest (lol) the context.